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Nearly two-thirds of 2016 Ohio college grads have student debt

Nearly two-thirds of 2016 Ohio college grads have student debt

A new report estimates that around two-thirds of Ohio’s 2016 college grads left school with student loan debt.

Ohio’s 2016 college graduates were more likely than students in 41 other states to have student loan debt, a new report shows.

Around 64 percent of 2016 Ohio college grads had student loan debt, meaning Ohio ranks ninth in the country for grads who leave school with debt, according to a new report from the Institute for College Access & Success.

The new report shows marginal improvement over 2015’s grads, when the institute found that Ohio grads were the eighth most indebted in the country.

West Virginia’s 2016 grads ranked first with 77 percent leaving school with debt. Ohio’s 2106 college grads also left school with an average of $30,351, according to the report.

That dollar number means Ohio ranked No. 14 for average student loan debt per graduate. The No. 1 spot went to New Hampshire, where the average student loan debt of a college graduate was $36,367, according to the report.

There were 17 states, including Ohio, that reported average debts above $30,000.

Colleges are not required to report student debt levels for graduates, according to the report. To estimate the state averages, the institute used the most recent data available which was voluntarily provided by more than half of all public nonprofit four-year schools.